Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Explain to me why I shouldn't buy a Savage or Marlin .22 LR for <$200

MooseMan3000 · 11-01-2006, 04:43 PM

Here's the situation.

Girlfriend, never fired any sort of weapon before, wants to learn how to shoot.

Me, never owned any weapons other than air rifles and air pistols, though I have fired a variety of centerfire rifles and shotguns, as well as a few .22s.

We want the gun primarily for plinking, and to show her the basics of gun safety, care, and handling. This is not a long term investment, because if she gets into it, she wants to eventually look into small caliber handguns. Again, this is to get her familiar with guns and gun safety, primarily, along with basic marksmanship.

If this goes well, and the interest stays after a few months, I'll go in for a .22 pistol of some sort, to get both of us familiarized with handgun care and handling. After that, we'll start looking into rentals to figure out what sort of guns we'd actually like to own. Again, the .22 would be just in the interim, to become familiar with shooting.

I want .22 for two reasons: 1) it's very easy to shoot. Virtually no recoil, so it's good to get started and develop good habits for higher bore rounds. 2) Ammunition is cheap and easy to come by. If I have to spend $50 every time I go to the range just to squeeze off a few rounds, I won't ever go.

I know all of you like your Ruger .22 LRs and your Browning Buck Mark pistols. I'm sure they're very nice guns, but the cheapest I can find anything is about $350 for the basic Browning Buck Mark Standard, and the Rugers start over $600. Or I can get a Ruger pistol for about $300.

Add to this another factor: gun shops are not readily available in my area. The closest "gun shop" is about an hour drive, which, while not impossible, is a bit of a pain in the ass. Within reasonable distance I have Wal-Mart and Dick's sporting goods, and that's pretty much it. The pawn shops in my area are extremely sketchy, too (but again, which ones aren't?), and I don't know enough about guns to know what to look for in a used one. So buying used is probably out of the question, at least for now.

So my basic idea is this: I buy a $150 .22 from Wal Mart or Dick's (they probably even have the same models). I buy a coupla bricks of ammo for another $50 or so (maybe less. I haven't looked into that much), and we can shoot the whole day without worrying about cost. If a month down the road, she finds that she has no more interest in shooting, well damn. But I'm out less than half the cost of a better gun. If she's really into it, then no big loss, as she's eventually looking for a good handgun, anyway.

So... thoughts?

Oh, and I know she should take a safety course (I'll probably take it with her as a refresher). That's given. And I will probably need to buy the gun, since nobody in my area provides rentals. I have to travel close to two hours to get to a range that rents guns (unless I missed one, but I doubt it)

11-01-2006, 04:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
MooseMan3000 wouldn't mind being a ninja. Location: Maine, the Other White State.	Explain to me why I shouldn't buy a Savage or Marlin .22 LR for <$200 Here's the situation. Girlfriend, never fired any sort of weapon before, wants to learn how to shoot. Me, never owned any weapons other than air rifles and air pistols, though I have fired a variety of centerfire rifles and shotguns, as well as a few .22s. We want the gun primarily for plinking, and to show her the basics of gun safety, care, and handling. This is not a long term investment, because if she gets into it, she wants to eventually look into small caliber handguns. Again, this is to get her familiar with guns and gun safety, primarily, along with basic marksmanship. If this goes well, and the interest stays after a few months, I'll go in for a .22 pistol of some sort, to get both of us familiarized with handgun care and handling. After that, we'll start looking into rentals to figure out what sort of guns we'd actually like to own. Again, the .22 would be just in the interim, to become familiar with shooting. I want .22 for two reasons: 1) it's very easy to shoot. Virtually no recoil, so it's good to get started and develop good habits for higher bore rounds. 2) Ammunition is cheap and easy to come by. If I have to spend $50 every time I go to the range just to squeeze off a few rounds, I won't ever go. I know all of you like your Ruger .22 LRs and your Browning Buck Mark pistols. I'm sure they're very nice guns, but the cheapest I can find anything is about $350 for the basic Browning Buck Mark Standard, and the Rugers start over $600. Or I can get a Ruger pistol for about $300. Add to this another factor: gun shops are not readily available in my area. The closest "gun shop" is about an hour drive, which, while not impossible, is a bit of a pain in the ass. Within reasonable distance I have Wal-Mart and Dick's sporting goods, and that's pretty much it. The pawn shops in my area are extremely sketchy, too (but again, which ones aren't?), and I don't know enough about guns to know what to look for in a used one. So buying used is probably out of the question, at least for now. So my basic idea is this: I buy a $150 .22 from Wal Mart or Dick's (they probably even have the same models). I buy a coupla bricks of ammo for another $50 or so (maybe less. I haven't looked into that much), and we can shoot the whole day without worrying about cost. If a month down the road, she finds that she has no more interest in shooting, well damn. But I'm out less than half the cost of a better gun. If she's really into it, then no big loss, as she's eventually looking for a good handgun, anyway. So... thoughts? Oh, and I know she should take a safety course (I'll probably take it with her as a refresher). That's given. And I will probably need to buy the gun, since nobody in my area provides rentals. I have to travel close to two hours to get to a range that rents guns (unless I missed one, but I doubt it)